Your favorite Acustica plugin? Giancarlo appreciation thread

Discussion in 'Software' started by RajuPalliBabu, Dec 18, 2023.

  1. DarkFader

    DarkFader Member

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    The Modula update that we wait since 2020
     
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  2. Virtualex

    Virtualex Member

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    A lot of people overlook this, although I find this rack to be comfortable!
    Last year I made four tracks for TV with this.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 19, 2023
  3. Stevie Dude

    Stevie Dude Audiosexual

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    He's using the full version, the R2R version is worse with ripple on the high-end (probably bug on the trial ?) and the frequency point is an octave above too. R2R version has T on the name, PINK4PEQT. The one he used doesn't have it, presumably not a trial, nor a crack based on trial. It's the full official version judging from the plugin name. Also not wrong sample rate, if wrong sample rate all PINK4 plugins has some weird distortion on the high-end.

    R2R PINK4PEQT ripple (48kHz OS 2x) :
    upload_2023-12-19_11-2-43.png

    R2R PINK4PEQT wrong sample rate :
    upload_2023-12-19_11-3-57.png

    R2R PINK4PEQT 30Hz cut + 4kHz cut (will result in an octave above the selected freq point)
    upload_2023-12-19_11-5-37.png
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2023
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  4. shinyzen

    shinyzen Rock Star

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    Aero - Incredible sounding amp and pedal suite. Its extremely laggy, but sounds the absolute best

    Amber - Sounds close enough to the Avalon that i sold mine.

    Amethyst - Pre's - Custom Mix 2500 Stereo - Really nice depth, clarity etc. EQ B is nice. I Like the compressor on drum buss

    Arctic - Freebie comp that morphs between Comp, Limiter, And Saturator. Sounds great as parallel NYC style drum buss.

    Ash - Loud. Best ITB clipper. Low distortion, good for heavy edm, modern pop, trap genres or just shaving 1 db transients from organic genres

    Blonde - Shitty Compressor, Great Pre's and EQ. Premixer is awesome. Filters are very musical, remind me of Daft Punk

    Brown - Annoying GUI but incredible sound. Beefy Lo end, musical, nice high end. Great Pre's. Comp annoys me, but can sound good

    Cerise - Cool stereo spreader, ok eq with good low end, harsh highs. Compressor is shit

    Cherry - Lightweight, very music, beautiful eq. Wish it had extended lo shelf, but still incredible eq.

    Cola - Compressor is great as either light glue or smashed parallel. Really cool, unique EQ's. Inspiring to use.

    Coral Baxter - Freebie, surprisingly great simple shelving EQ. Good for tone shaping on busses, master etc.

    Cream - Decent compressor, but it can behave erratically. EQ's sound great, but UI switches are annoying AF!! Pre too, annoying UI, good sound

    Druma - One knob sort of plugin. Surprisingly versatile, use in parallel for smash. Sounds good on synth buss too.

    Ebony - Some Good compressors, some too hard to dial in. Great Eq, though super laggy. Reverb can be good but is a nightmare not worth it

    EL Rey - Great compressor. Awesome on most material

    Eminence - Ok freebie channel strip. Nothing crazy, but can sound good.

    Erin - Compressor is great, use it subtly. MID eq is excellent for mids. IDK about the hyper comp, havent had much results with it.

    Firethepan - absolutely bonkers what it does to stereo image. compare a mix with DAW panning and Fire the pan and never look back.

    Frost - i love it for subtle tone shaping and mild saturation / compression. Well rounded strip. lightweight.

    Gainstation - shitty but awesome. Shitty in that you have to dial it in correctly, but when you do, it sound incredible

    Gold - Excellent suite, pre's, EQ's, compressors all good.

    Indigo - compressor ok, EQ's really good. Beefy, phat AF, colorful and full of life

    Ivory - ok eq, excellent MB and Dyn EQ, good limiter for tone shaping but not actual limiting.

    Jade - great top end and well rounded EQ, ok compressor, laggy and shitty ui.

    Jam - beefy, phat bottomed saturator. Can be nasty or subtle warming.

    Diamond Lift - good for what it is, dont expect it to fix your mixes, but can add nice depth and character. use on busses or master

    Lime - great all around suite. Not in love with the compressor. Love the eq's for synths and guitars

    Magenta - one of my favs, transparent even with big moves.

    Midnight - versatile, great sounding group of fairchild emulations. I love it on piano and organic drums, works well almost anywhere. Lightweight

    Mystic - excellent, simple tube channel strip. Warmth with presence, pre is great in ultra mode, compressor ok for subtle compression

    Ocean - a must have for EDM and edm adjacent genres. Multiband unit with comp, saturation, limiters etc. Incredible on the master or busses, good presets

    Olive - Expander is great on drum breaks, eq, comp and pre's are great too

    Opal compressor - smooth or brutal, you decide, very versatile compressor, newer and lightweight

    Pink - ok api emu, i dont love it, but dont hate it. has good parts and bleh parts. too many choices honestly

    Pumpkin pro - another must have for edm type music, especially left field bass music, DNB, Dubstep etc. Nasty, powerful little thing

    Purple - great suite of pultec style eq's, does what it says it does, sounds awesome.

    Salt (salt ultra new) great versatile eq, i use it everywhere. lightweight, easy to quickly dial in a tone.

    Sand - great sounding suite, but shitty ui and laggy experience. needs updating badly.

    Sienna - idk, i bought it years ago but never used it lol

    Smoke - love it. eq is nice, compressor is ok!

    Sunray - honestly dont love it, but dont hate it, i like the EQ on piano

    Taupe - love it, great for lofi genres, or slamming edm elements into it for character and color. Great eq's too, decent comp

    Tiger - powerful, versatile AF comp. Awesome for mastering, parrallel, busses, individual elements etc. New tiger ultra is good

    Titanium - MB section is very good, compressor is true to the hardware

    Ultramarine - excellent and inspiring EQ's. Nice comp. Secret gem reverb

    Water - sounds good, but, never really resonated with me, i use it sometimes if i spin the random button and it comes up.

    Nebula - Alex B, Tim P, Cupwise all have great libraries, laggy and annoying to use but worth it if you have the patience to set it all up.
     
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  5. starkid84

    starkid84 Producer

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    Lol.. different company
     
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  6. TokyoShokio

    TokyoShokio Member

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    Taupe and Lemon and EL Rey
     
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  7. Stevie Dude

    Stevie Dude Audiosexual

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    BLACK - been using it regularly now solely for the Neotek (Neoregelia Se II) console preamp. Most of my fav records are mixed through it so finally a Neotek pre plugin is awesome.

    SAND - mixed hundreds of songs through the Waves and Brainworx SSL plugins, know them inside out, but Sand is just another level. Mad. I like the G EQ and COMP specifically.

    ULTRAMARINE - dunno how a real Fairchild really sound, but this plugin made me understand why people go crazy about it. Weight, that is what other Fairchild emu doesn't have. Feels like sending a sound into a microwave and warm it up nicely.

    EL REY 2 - vocal parallel, bass, among the best vari-mu plugin ever. Best to smash the hell out of everything and mix it back. Things get better just going through it. Adds glow. Live up to the expectation and hype.

    ASH - what a clipper.

    MAGIC FLOW - stupidly good if you want things to sound like Josh Gudwin, contemporary pop music. Hard to understand, easy to get good sound once you understand how to use it. A little too genre specific IMO because of how the EQ and Dynamic EQ are tuned. Check my guide post.

    COFFEE - best AA suite so far. Posh sounding. Adding style points to everything. Used to think Cream is good, but not anymore after trying this one.

    JADE - high-end gears expensive sounding. Hi-Fi af. The PA's Maag and even Kush's own Clariphonic plugin can't hold a candle to it. Those plugins only give Air, Jade also giving the Air but the air is mixed with high-grade cocaine.
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2023
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  8. shinyzen

    shinyzen Rock Star

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    haha perfect analogy! i do love jade, just don't love the engine. needs optimization
     
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  9. Xupito

    Xupito Audiosexual

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    something good about acustica

    PS. sorry... I have one of these days....
     
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  10. capitan crunch

    capitan crunch Producer

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    if basedpirate disagrees, I'm still on the fence! {thanks for your review Professor Dude!}
     
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  11. Barncore

    Barncore Platinum Record

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    Another Acustica thread?? Lol ok

    The plugins released in 2023 and onward are elite level plugins. They've hit their stride now and the releases from now onwards are gonna be really good.

    Most of the old plugins are flawed, some are forgettable, and the R2R release kinda compounded that with the samplerate exclusions, but i honestly think people are doing themselves a disservice if they dismiss Acustica based on their older stuff.

    ^ This is coming from someone that has been very critical of Acustica plugins over the years. I'm still not fully sold on their compression sounds (but it's improving).

    There's only a few gems from the old era (pre-2020). El Rey is one of them, Diamond EQ another. The rest is hit and miss. But 2023+ is hit and hit. I have a feeling 2024 is gonna be a big year for them, once people catch on to the new level they've stepped up to. The biggest problem they have is that there's just waaaaay too many plugins, with such a huge variance of quality and usability too, i don't know how any new customer is supposed to know where to start.

    As for Giancarlo, I don't have strong feelings about him one way or another but i've followed some his postings for years now and i can say he's nowhere near as bad as people here make him out to be. From observing his posts over the years, he's more relaxed now than he used to be, and not as reactive as he was a few years ago. The reality is much more boring: he's an imperfect human having a human experience just like you. He shits, he eats, he probably has anxieties about the future, he's probably trying to create meaning in his life, he probably misses an old friend, he probably wants people to like him, he probably has regrets, health fears, etc etc etc. But people here seem to wanna project him as some sort of faceless evil dicator haha. It's so easy to do it from the other side of a computer screen. I just wish i could witness more empathy around these parts i guess.
    It's not like he's a politician making decisions that ruin people's lives. It's f*cking audio. He creates audio tools. We need to encourage those people, not drag their name through the mud in hopes that they wont get elected or something, lol.
    Basically what Will already said:
    I would bet a lot of money that the people that shit on him have never run a successful business or project of their own.
    You don't feel the need to tear others down unless you're down yourself
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2023
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  12. Stevie Dude

    Stevie Dude Audiosexual

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    A wise man once said...

    "If your post didn't get a "X" from BasedPirate, you're doing it wrong!" :guru:
     
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  13. ChrisJames

    ChrisJames Noisemaker

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    My personal favorites are Salt, Taupe, Cream, Gold 5 and Ash. They're newer plugins are worth every penny.

    Now that I think of it R2R cracked Nebula a while ago and I went the whole pirated route and eventually converted to full software licenses and 3rd party libraries. No regrets!
     
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  14. Novacoma

    Novacoma Noisemaker

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    Steve Albini fan?
     
  15. pratyahara

    pratyahara Guest

    La mesta.
    Made in Italy.
     
  16. eli91

    eli91 Ultrasonic

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    So, after a while testing most R2R releases I've been quite liking the Smoke EQ. It's on the pultec domain but it has some softer EQ curves, so it's quite useful when you need a low boost while somewhat preserving the low-mids.

    The comparison with the Ruletec is quite clear: upload_2023-12-26_14-12-38.png upload_2023-12-26_14-15-40.png

    Also, it offers both a clean EQ (pre off) or some nice, controlled harmonics (pre on), so it's quite versatile and not as colorful as other Pultec models. I like what it does on my busses.

    It also gets some funny shapes with some line preamps! upload_2023-12-26_14-24-9.png
     
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  17. vuldegger

    vuldegger Producer

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    only useful for mixing/mastering since they inctroduce such high latency that they cannot be used during tracking/making music.
    Aquamarine5 , Gold5, Ash Ultra, Diamond Lift are top notch
     
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  18. xorome

    xorome Audiosexual

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    Best Answer
    With regards to the ripples in Plugin Doctor and Bertom EQ Analyzer: It's not necessarily meaningful and might just be some kind of noise gating / impulse gating and may not affect material that isn't an on/off test impulse - possibly.
     
  19. hackerz4life

    hackerz4life Audiosexual

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    How did people even record before plugin doctor arrived? Imagine all those hit songs and movie scores made with inferior plugins, stock EQs that made you walk out of the cinema because your ears were bleeding from aliasing. Yuck.
    I feel sorry for the generatio born between 1995 and 2000, they suffered the most. You can see them every day, they walk around aimlessly trying to pin-point the source of a rickshaw horn.
     
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  20. mk_96

    mk_96 Audiosexual

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    they used plugin apothecary, and before that it was plugin witch doctor.
     
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